In the Absence of the Sacred

What Hacker News says

1. ranprieurAug 2025
   A great book on this subject is In The Absence of the Sacred by Jerry Mander. He argues convincingly that the correct biological metaphor for technological progress is not evolution, but inbreeding. We are turning our attention more and more into worlds of our own construction.

   Still, there's a lot of cool technology out there, and a lot of room to use it better.

   thread
2. hoshJun 2017
   I'm speaking as someone who makes a living with technology, and I have a vested, material interest in keeping this status quo. I make a differentiation between knowledge and wisdom.

   We can learn a lot from nature -- in the sense that we can learn a lot of knowledge. And you are right, we are nowhere near the peak. Maybe I am reading into your words too much, but it feels like there is a lot of enthusiasm you have for technology. That resonates with me.

   However, I agree with the other guy -- it is hubris. How I get there has to do with wisdom not being normative. We might be able to gain a lot of knowledge, but we have not been gaining much wisdom.

   There are other frames I can get into -- for example, Eisler's "Chalce and Blade", Mander's "In the Absence of the Sacred", Mazis's "Trickster, Magician, and Grieving Man". I think we very much have an arrogance which comes with technology, in our attitudes around it and what we want to do with it, and the many consequences around how we use and abuse technology.

   For me, a fly is not just amazing because it shows how much knowledge we have yet to learn about a fly. To use the language of mystics: there is wisdom in _being_ the fly, one that is non-obvious.

   Show morethread